Ask a Mormon, Part 4

[GhostWriter16]

I'm not totally sure what you're asking. Are you asking about how we feel about political lobbying about gay marriage? The church lobbied against gay marriage in Hawaii and California, but also caught a pretty significant backlash from California's Prop 8.

Most Mormons do not support Gay Marriage. I do, although I do not support gays being married in LDS temples.

Sorry for the confusing question. I guess I should split it into several questions.

1. What is the "Mainstream" or most common, Mormon view on gay marriage. (You kind of answered that, but it was part of the question.)

2. Does the Church itself take a stance on gay marriage, and if so, are members required to agree with the stance?

3. Is supporting gay marriage considered by Mormons to be condoning homosexuality? I ask because I've seen this attitude often, although I myself don't necessarily see it as valid.

I think there may be more Mormons who are okay with same-sex couples getting civil unions that provide all the benefits of marriage without the title - at least, that's the impression that I get. The Church went so far as to say something along those lines not long after Proposition 8, if I recall.

This is what I've seen amongst Christians in general as well, though obviously there are exceptions on both sides.

My own views on this matter are pretty complicated, and not really the same as anyone else's I am aware of, to say the least . . .

For curiosities sake, what is your view? And is it the same as the Church's view?

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

1. What is the "Mainstream" or most common, Mormon view on gay marriage. (You kind of answered that, but it was part of the question.)

Most are against granting the name "marriage" to same-sex unions; there is a greater or lesser degree of willingness to accept other legal recognition.

2. Does the Church itself take a stance on gay marriage, and if so, are members required to agree with the stance?

The church says that marriage is and should be fundamentally between a man and a woman; they don't REQUIRE members to agree with this stance in any particular way, but I think it would be hard to disagree with at least the underlying doctrine and still agree with the Church as a whole.

3. Is supporting gay marriage considered by Mormons to be condoning homosexuality? I ask because I've seen this attitude often, although I myself don't necessarily see it as valid.

I suppose most members might see it that way. (I don't; I see the morality of homosexual relationships and their legal status to be quite different concerns.)

For curiosities sake, what is your view? And is it the same as the Church's view?

I think everyone is making a mistake in failing to distinguish between marriage as a social and marriage as a legal concept.

 

[RoboPig]

How do Mormons do catechism? A Mormon friend of mine told me that he has a two hour session every morning when his parents catechize him and all his siblings. Is this a widespread practice or just found amongst the especially devout?

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

Is he talking about Seminary? This is a (usually hour long) program for high schoolers that in most parts of the country is held before class, in the morning.

 

[downtown]

Catchawhat now?

 

[GhostWriter16]

I think everyone is making a mistake in failing to distinguish between marriage as a social and marriage as a legal concept.

Can you explain? I don't get what you mean.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

I could, but as these views aren't really typical of Mormons they don't really belong in this thread. I will PM you when I have a chance.

 

[GhostWriter16]

I could, but as these views aren't really typical of Mormons they don't really belong in this thread. I will PM you when I have a chance.

Fair enough. Sorry for taking the thread too off topic.

 

[timtofly]

I think everyone is making a mistake in failing to distinguish between marriage as a social and marriage as a legal concept.

Can you describe how, when, and for what cause marriage became a legal issue (at least in the US)? I don't think the "state" always required a license or does that not have anything to do with the "legal" concept you were referring to? IMO a lot of the "rules" changed when social security was established and that seems to me when "marriage" stopped meaning anything.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

I could, but that is far outside the scope of this thread.

 

[shadowplay]

When is the Sabbath?

 

[downtown]

When is the Sabbath?

Sunday.

 

[kochman]

OK, what do I have to do, according to Mormon teaching, to receive my own planet, that I then populate it with my myriad wives, as though a god?

 

[GhostWriter16]

Do Mormons actually think Satan is Jesus' brother?

Do Mormons believe that Satan is not evil?

Do Mormons believe that Satan could have saved humanity if his plan had included free will?

Do Mormons really believe (Still) that souls who were less valient in the fight for Heaven were assigned black bodies?

I ask because all of these claims, except the second one, were claimed in a book by a former Mormon, but I have no clue how much of it the LDS church actually teaches. The second one wasn't specifically mentioned, but #3 seems to imply it.

 

[downtown]

Do Mormons actually think Satan is Jesus' brother?

Only in the sense that Jesus is also my brother, and that you and I are brothers. Christ was the only begotten Son of God, but we are all spiritual brothers and sister.

Do Mormons believe that Satan is not evil?

No, Satan is evil.

Do Mormons believe that Satan could have saved humanity if his plan had included free will?

Satan wouldn't have really become Satan if his plan had been accepted I suppose.

Do Mormons really believe (Still) that souls who were less valient in the fight for Heaven were assigned black bodies?

I certainly don't believe that, and that line of thinking has certainly fallen out of favor since the turn of the century. Bruce R. McConkie (a famous and highly conservative LDS theologian) or perhaps Brigham Young might have said that at some point, but it is not cannon now.

 

[GhostWriter16]

Only in the sense that Jesus is also my brother, and that you and I are brothers. Christ was the only begotten Son of God, but we are all spiritual brothers and sister.

According to the Bible, only Christians are brothers and Sisters. The Devil wouldn't apply.

Satan wouldn't have really become Satan if his plan had been accepted I suppose.

So Satan is equally the Son of God as Christ, or at least was?

I certainly don't believe that, and that line of thinking has certainly fallen out of favor since the turn of the century. Bruce R. McConkie (a famous and highly conservative LDS theologian) or perhaps Brigham Young might have said that at some point, but it is not cannon now.

I had no doubt that some LDS theologians had said it, but I assumed nothing so ridiculous was Church doctrine, as it is simply too nutty...

 

[downtown]

According to the Bible, only Christians are brothers and Sisters. The Devil wouldn't apply.

LDS tradition teaches that we are all children of God, regardless of religious affiliation.

So Satan is equally the Son of God as Christ, or at least was?

No, Christ had no equal, although Lucifer was a particularly righteous or special spirit, prior to his fall. He would not have been able to carry out his plan, seeing as he is not Christ.

 

[GhostWriter16]

No, Christ had no equal, although Lucifer was a particularly righteous or special spirit, prior to his fall. He would not have been able to carry out his plan, seeing as he is not Christ.

Ah, that makes more sense than what I was told Mormons taught. AFAIK Lucifer was the head of the angels prior to the Fall according to most Protestants.

 

[Plotinus]

According to the Bible, only Christians are brothers and Sisters.

Where does it say that? (Genuinely curious, as I can't think of such a saying, and St Francis, for one, would disagree.)

 

[kochman]

OK, what do I have to do, according to Mormon teaching, to receive my own planet, that I then populate it with my myriad wives, as though a god?

This is a serious question.
I understand beginner mormons don't have access to this level of information, but surely a more serious mormon can answer it...